Jules Leonard Baum ’52
Jules Leonard Baum ’52, M.D.,passed away in Bethesda, Maryland, on December 27, 2021. Jules was born on March 13, 1931, in Brooklyn, New York, and was raised in New York City. He attended Polytechnic Preparatory School before graduating from Dartmouth in 1952 with a degree in chemistry-zoology. He then earned his medical degree at Tufts University in 1956 and an M.S. from New York University in 1962. He served in the U.S. Army in France after receiving his medical degree and before beginning his residency in ophthalmology at NYU-Bellevue Hospital in New York. In 1968 Jules moved to the Tufts Medical Center in Boston as an ophthalmologist, dividing his time between seeing patients, teaching, and cornea research. Jules stayed there for the rest of his full-time academic career, achieving full professorship status in 1974. He authored more than 200 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters and received the American Academy of Ophthalmology Senior Honor Award in 1990 and the Alcon Research Institute Award in 1991. Jules retired in 2011 and the following year published a small book, How to Live a Long Life with Poor Genes, about his life. He was also an oenophile of note, and his passion for wine dated back to his Army service. Jules is survived by his wife, Laura, whom he married in 1990; children Alison, Jeffrey, Alexander, and Samantha and their spouses; and 10 grandchildren.
